Metropolitan Museum of Art - Is an Artwork On View at the Met, and in Which Gallery? (public API)

import json, time
 
# (title, artist) pairs to check; the title is matched exactly (case-insensitive), the artist by substring.
WORKS = [
    ("Sunflowers", "van Gogh"),
    ("Irises", "van Gogh"),
    ("Washington Crossing the Delaware", "Leutze"),
    ("Road in Etten", "van Gogh"),
]
API = "https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/"
PAUSE = 0.25  # docs: limit request rate to 80 requests per second; this stays far below it
 
def on_docs_tab():
    """fetch() runs from a logged-out tab on the API docs page (metmuseum.github.io). The API sends
    Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, so plain GETs work cross-origin. Reuse the tab if already there."""
    try:
        if js("location.origin") == "https://metmuseum.github.io":
            return
    except Exception:
        pass
    new_tab("https://metmuseum.github.io/")
    wait_for_load()
    if "Collection API" not in (js("document.title") or ""):
        raise RuntimeError(f"metmuseum.github.io did not serve the API docs (title {js('document.title')!r}): stop, do not retry around it")
 
# js() gives up after a few seconds, so start the fetch, then poll for it.
START_JS = """(() => { window.__met = window.__met || {}; const id = String(Math.random()).slice(2); window.__met[id] = null;
  fetch(%s, {credentials: 'omit'})
    .then(async r => { window.__met[id] = {status: r.status, text: await r.text()}; })
    .catch(e => { window.__met[id] = {status: 0, text: String(e)}; });
  return id; })()"""
POLL_JS = """(() => { const v = window.__met[%s]; if (v) delete window.__met[%s]; return v; })()"""
 
def get_json(path, tries=3, timeout=60, ok=(200,)):
    """GET API+path from inside the tab -> (status, parsed JSON). Backs off on 429/5xx, otherwise raises,
    so an error never looks like 'not on view'. Pass ok=(200, 404) where a 404 is an expected answer."""
    for attempt in range(tries):
        rid = json.dumps(js(START_JS % json.dumps(API + path)))
        t0 = time.time()
        while (r := js(POLL_JS % (rid, rid))) is None:
            if time.time() - t0 > timeout:
                raise RuntimeError(f"{path}: no answer after {timeout}s")
            time.sleep(0.3)
        time.sleep(PAUSE)
        if r["status"] in ok:
            return r["status"], json.loads(r["text"])
        if r["status"] not in (0, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504) or attempt == tries - 1:
            raise RuntimeError(f"{path}: HTTP {r['status']} {' '.join(r['text'].split())[:200]!r}; stopping")
        time.sleep(30 if r["status"] == 429 else 5)
 
def ids(path):
    """All object IDs for a v1.1 search (pages of 500; offset+limit may not exceed 10,000)."""
    out, offset = [], 0
    while True:
        _, d = get_json(f"{path}&limit=500&offset={offset}")
        page = d["objectIDs"] or []  # null, not [], when nothing matches
        out += page
        offset += len(page)
        if d["total"] > 10000:  # the API serves at most 10,000 IDs per search, so an intersection could miss the work
            raise RuntimeError(f"{path}: {d['total']} matches, more than the 10,000 the search serves; the answer would be "
                               "incomplete. Use /v1/objects or the Open Access CSV for complete lists")
        if not page or offset >= d["total"]:
            return d["total"], out
 
def q(s):
    return js(f"encodeURIComponent({json.dumps(s)})")
 
on_docs_tab()
for title, artist in WORKS:
    # q= alone ranks the whole record; title=true / artistOrCulture=true restrict it to one field each.
    # The two flags cannot be combined (title=true&artistOrCulture=true&q=sunflowers -> 0), so intersect two searches.
    t_total, by_title = ids(f"v1.1/search?title=true&q={q(title)}")
    a_total, by_artist = ids(f"v1.1/search?artistOrCulture=true&q={q(artist)}")
    _, on_view = ids(f"v1.1/search?artistOrCulture=true&isOnView=true&q={q(artist)}")
    artist_ids = set(by_artist)
    both = [i for i in by_title if i in artist_ids]
    print(f"\n{title} ({artist}): title search {t_total}, artist search {a_total}, in both {len(both)}")
    found = 0
    for oid in both:
        status, o = get_json(f"v1/objects/{oid}", ok=(200, 404))
        if status == 404:  # search can return IDs the object endpoint rejects ("Not a valid object")
            print(f"  {oid}  skipped: object endpoint said {o.get('message')!r}")
            continue
        if o["title"].strip().lower() != title.lower() or artist.lower() not in o["artistDisplayName"].lower():
            continue
        found += 1
        g = o["GalleryNumber"]
        where = f"ON VIEW in Gallery {g}" if g else "not on view"
        print(f"  {o['objectID']}  {o['title']}, {o['objectDate']}  {o['artistDisplayName']} ({o['artistDisplayBio']})  [{o['accessionNumber']}]")
        print(f"    {where}  (isOnView=true search agrees: {(oid in on_view) == bool(g)})  {o['department']}, {o['medium']}")
        print(f"    metadata updated {o['metadataDate']}; public domain {o['isPublicDomain']}")
        print(f"    {o['objectURL']}")
    if not found:
        print("  no object with that exact title by that artist")

 
Sunflowers (van Gogh): title search 36, artist search 31, in both 1
  436524  Sunflowers, 1887  Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)  [49.41]
    ON VIEW in Gallery 825  (isOnView=true search agrees: True)  European Paintings, Oil on canvas
    metadata updated 2026-11-06T04:53:14.23Z; public domain True
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436524
 
Irises (van Gogh): title search 43, artist search 31, in both 1
  436528  Irises, 1890  Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)  [58.187]
    ON VIEW in Gallery 099  (isOnView=true search agrees: True)  European Paintings, Oil on canvas
    metadata updated 2026-11-06T04:53:14.23Z; public domain True
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436528
 
Washington Crossing the Delaware (Leutze): title search 21, artist search 10, in both 2
  11417  Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851  Emanuel Leutze (American, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1816–1868 Washington, D.C.)  [97.34]
    ON VIEW in Gallery 760  (isOnView=true search agrees: True)  The American Wing, Oil on canvas
    metadata updated 2025-10-03T04:51:20.327Z; public domain True
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417
  894635  Washington Crossing the Delaware, ca. 1870  Emanuel Leutze (American, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1816–1868 Washington, D.C.)  [1980.1037]
    not on view  (isOnView=true search agrees: True)  Drawings and Prints, Hand-colored lithograph
    metadata updated 2025-06-27T04:50:31.807Z; public domain False
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/894635
 
Road in Etten (van Gogh): title search 102, artist search 31, in both 2
  459193  Road in Etten, 1881  Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)  [1975.1.774]
    not on view  (isOnView=true search agrees: True)  Robert Lehman Collection, Chalk, pencil, pastel, watercolor.  Underdrawing in pen and brown ink.
    metadata updated 2025-01-29T04:54:03.16Z; public domain True
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459193
  828389  skipped: object endpoint said 'Not a valid object'

API=https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection
# Filters narrow the match set: on view, European Paintings (departmentId 11), "sunflowers" anywhere in the record
curl -sS --fail -G "$API/v1.1/search" \
  --data-urlencode 'q=sunflowers' --data-urlencode 'isOnView=true' --data-urlencode 'departmentId=11' | python3 -c '
import json, sys; d = json.load(sys.stdin); print("on view, European Paintings, q=sunflowers:", d["total"], d["objectIDs"])'
sleep 1
curl -sS --fail "$API/v1/objects/436524" | python3 -c '
import json, sys; o = json.load(sys.stdin)
print("record:", {k: o[k] for k in ("objectID", "title", "artistDisplayName", "objectDate", "accessionNumber", "GalleryNumber", "isPublicDomain", "metadataDate")})'
sleep 1
for v in true True; do
  curl -sS --fail "$API/v1.1/search?q=sunflowers&isOnView=$v" | python3 -c "
import json, sys; print('isOnView=$v -> total', json.load(sys.stdin)['total'])"
  sleep 1
done
curl -sS --fail "$API/v1.1/search?q=zzzxqvnotathing" | python3 -c '
import json, sys; print("no match:", json.load(sys.stdin))'
sleep 1
curl -sS -w ' <- unknown id: HTTP %{http_code}\n' "$API/v1/objects/999999999"
sleep 1
curl -sS -o /dev/null -w 'old /v1/search: HTTP %{http_code}\n' "$API/v1/search?q=sunflowers"

on view, European Paintings, q=sunflowers: 3 [436524, 437112, 437115]
record: {'objectID': 436524, 'title': 'Sunflowers', 'artistDisplayName': 'Vincent van Gogh', 'objectDate': '1887', 'accessionNumber': '49.41', 'GalleryNumber': '825', 'isPublicDomain': True, 'metadataDate': '2026-11-06T04:53:14.23Z'}
isOnView=true -> total 18
isOnView=True -> total 178
no match: {'total': 0, 'objectIDs': None}
{"message":"ObjectID not found"}
 <- unknown id: HTTP 404
old /v1/search: HTTP 410